Vacuum cleaner carriage



Dec. 6, 1 938. R. H, JORDAN 2,139,503

VACUUM CLEANER CARRIAGE Filed A ril 10, 1955 WlTNE S SES:

INVENTOR A'TTORNEY Patented Dec. 6, 1938 UNITED STATES orrios vacuum stamina @ARRIAGlE Pennsylvania Application April 10, 1935, Serial No. 15,589

3 Claims.

adjusting the position of the wheels relatively to the carriage.

In the accompanying single sheet of drawing, Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of a vacuum cleaner having associated therewith a device embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view mainly in section therethrough taken on the line IIII of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 3 and Fig. 4 are fragmentary detail views of two diiferent forms of a portion of the apparatus shown in Figs. 1 and 2, Fig. 3 being taken along the line IIIIII of Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawing, a vacuum cleaner assembly, designated generally by the numeral I, may comprise a fan housing l3 having a depending nozzle l5 and a motor housing l1, which may be secured together in any suitable or desired manner now well known in the art. A set of front wheels I9 is provided, and may be journaled on an axle 2|, which is in turn supported by a part of the fan housing, the wheels l9 being located just back of the front nozzle.

The nozzle may be provided with a resilient bumper 23 near the mouth thereof in a manner now well known in the art.

The motor housing l1 encloses a suitable driving motor (not shown in the drawing), current being conducted thereto through a flexible cord 25 having a connecting plug 21 associated there with which is adapted to be plugged into a socket, which is not specifically shown in the drawing, but is supported at the'lower end of a handle 29, which is pivotally mounted as by a plurality of metal strips 3| constituting a fork on the motor housing.

It is usually desired to be able to adjust the heighth of the nozzle |5 relatively to a floor or rug "which it is desired to clean. For the purpose of varying the heighth of the nozzle above the floor, I provide a nozzle-adjusting means ina eluding a carriage or frame 35, which may be of elongated saddle shape at its front end, the upper 7 surface thereof being rounded so that'it may be secured against the rear bottom surface of the housing l1, as by a pluralityof short machine screws 31.

The carriage may extend upwardly, as shown more particularly at 39 in Fig. 1 of the drawing, which upward extension includes a substantially solid central depending portion 4|. The carriage includes also a plurality of apertured side walls 0 43 and 45. A wheeled shaft 41 is provided which may move substantially vertically upwardly and downwardly in the recessed side walls 43 and 45, and has a plurality of rollers or wheels 49 mounted thereon adj acentthe ends thereof, these rollers 5 being shown as being located outside of the carriage.

A plurality of guide pins 5| and 53 are provided in order to maintain the member 35 and the wheeled shaft 41 in adjustable operative positions relatively to each other, and for this purpose the pins 5| and 53 have their lower ends fixedly mounted in shafts 41, extending upwardly therefrom and fitting into suitable openings 62 and 63 in portion 4| of the carriage so that the pins 5| 25 and 53 and the wheels 49 may move vertically upwardly or downwardly relatively to the carriage 35.

If the openings 62 and 63 for thepins 5| and 53 are circular and approximately the same size as the pins, as shown in Fig. 3, only a vertical movement of the carriage 35 relative to the wheels 49 is. permitted; however, if the openings 62' and 63' are oppositely bean-shaped or arcuate, being concentric with the stud 55, as shown in Fig. 4, then a limited swivelling movement of the wheels 49 around the stud is permitted in addition to such relative vertical movement.

Means for adjusting the position of the wheeled shaft relatively to the carriage may comprise a 40 stud 55 whose lower portion is provided with right-hand threads shown at 51, for interfitting with a threaded opening through shaft 41, while its upper portion is provided with left-hand threads indicated by numeral 59, for interfitting 45 with a threaded opening in portion 4|. An adjusting knob 6| is suitably secured to the upper end of stud 55 in any manner well known in the art. It is obvious that the wheeled shaft 41 can move relatively to the carriage in a substan-' tially vertical direction only (in the case of Fig. 3, but with a swivelling movement also in the case of Fig. 4), being guided in such movement by the interflttlng of pins 5| and 53 with the por-. tlon 4| oi the canine.

It is further obvious that by the use of not only a right-:hand thread on the adjusting stud 55, but also the use of an oppositely extending thread at another portion thereof, it is possible to cause the wheeled shaft 41 to move faster away from or toward the portion 5! than would be the case if a single screw threaded portion only were provided on either the carriage or the wheeled shaft alone.

The device embodying my invention thus provides a relatively simple inexpensive nozzle-adjusting means which comprises a minimum number of component parts and which can be quickly and easily manually adjusted for any desired positlon of the nozzle relatively to a plane surface upon which it maybe operated.

Various modifications may be made in the device embodying my invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, and I desire, therefore, that only such limitations shall be placed thereon as are imposed by the prior art or are set forth in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A rearwardly extending carriage for a vacuum cleaner or the like secured to'the housing thereof and comprising a transversely-extending wheeled shaft adjustably supported in the carriage, and interacting means respectively located 3. A rearwardly extending carriage for a vac-' uum cleaner or the like secured to the housing thereof and comprising a transversely-extending wheeled shaft adjustably supported in the carriage, said carriage having a plurality of arcuate openings, a plurality of guide pins in said shaft extending substantially vertically into said openings, and an adjusting stud threaded in both said carriage and said shaft to vary the relative vertical positions thereof, said arcuate openings also permitting swivelling movement of said pins therein and consequent swivelling movement of said wheeled shaft relative to said carriage.

RICHARD H. JORDAN. 

